CLASSIC STYLE. MODERN VIEWPOINT.
RETRO THE
COLLECTIVE
OTAKU From social outcasts to Japan’s most influential youth movement
TIM BURTON Walking in his cinematic wonderland
GUINNESS Pure Genius: Celebrating 250 years of Ireland’s finest
SNOWBOARDING Off-piste to the Olympics: How the enfant terrible grew up FILM
MUSIC
FASHION
GADGETS
CARS
LIFESTYLE
EDITOR’S LETTER
W
elcome to The Retro Collective, a monthly magazine international in outlook and co-operative in spirit. We’re all about style, whether that’s an individual’s scene or the products from the world around them. This month we’ve introduced a new section where we check out the best retro-inspired styles and fashions you’re wearing out and about the streets. And there’s some fantastic, unique looks you’re putting together; mainstream retailers for the basics but finished off with some great vintage items from specialist shops (Page 10)...The top 5 is looking pretty special this month as well and how can you go past the James Bond-esque scubacraft (page 4). We know we’re supposed to be in a credit crunch, but there’s something pretty amazing about being able to step off the beach, jet ski out into the surf, and then head underwater cruising. Now that’s what we call swimming with dolphins! Guinness is 250 (Page 36) and we’ve given you some great facts and quotes to impress your mates with while out celebrating their anniversary (got to say I always thought Guinness was black, not ruby!). There’s a feature on the much derided Otaku (Page 44), who are having the last laugh as the industry in Japan goes through the Billion pound mark. And we’ve got some great new columnists on board, so check out why the prawn cocktail should be on every restaurant menu (page 54) and what makes a classic product (page 42). Enjoy, Bruce Hudson info@theretrocollective.com
INSPIRED
4 10 16 20 24 28
Top Five Street Style Lifestyle Gadgets Motoring Accessories
FEATURES
30 36 44 48
Tim Burton 250 Years Of Guinness Otaku Snowboarding
PERSPECTIVE
42 Making A Classic? 54 The Prawn Cocktail 56 Amanda Blanch & Chris Edwardes
30 4
Cover image courtesy of Bataleon
48
CONTENTS
10
1 FIVE THE
TOP
SCUBACRAFT SC3
Need a James Bond experience, then reach into your back pocket and pull out £100K and this baby is all yours. It doesn’t go overland like the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me but it still has that shaken and stirred (and completely dunked) feeling any self-respecting playboy, gadding about their private beach in the Bahamas, would be happy with. Oh, and if Barbara Bach wants to come for a ride on the back, we’re cool with that (if James is ok with that first, of course). www.scubacraft.com
2 FIVE THE
TOP
IRIS APFEL EXHIBITION
Iris Apfel may be 88 but at this ‘Rare Bird of Fashion Exhibition’ she’s still showing the young ones a thing or two with her spirited irreverence and pitch perfect taste. Renowned for her eclectic mixing of haute couture with costume jewelery and exotic baubles make this collection a must see at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts. www.pem.org
PROHIBITION AND BLITZ PARTIES Prohibition’s New Years Eve party featured party goers decked out in 1920’s attire, quaffing bootlegged booze and bustin' Charleston moves. Sounds like a blast. Don’t worry if you missed it, you can also hit the 40’s Blitz party these guys run during the year. www.prohibition 1920s.com www.theblitzparty.com THE
3
TOP
FIVE
4 FIVE THE
TOP
Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland is a no brainer as fits go and, as per usual, his missus and Mr Depp are along for the ride. Check out this for a supporting cast: Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, Alan Rickman as The Caterpillar, Matt Lucas as Tweedledee/dum and Barbara Windsor, yes Barbara Windsor, as The Doormouse. Can’t see Phil Mitchell on the cast list yet but as the Red Queen’s (Bonham-Carter) favourite saying is ‘Off with their heads’, and she has a moat filled with bobbing noggins there’s bound to be a role for him somewhere as an enforcer. UK release date: March 5
5 FIVE THE
TOP
Eadie Armchair
The Eadie armchair was launched by Donna Wilson during London Design Festival 2009 at Liberty's 'Britain Can Still make it' exhibition; a celebration of British made furniture. Proof that not only can they make it, we can also like it. This chair says comfort, this chair says leave me alone I’ve eaten too much of grandma’s pud and I’ve got some serious snoozing to do. It also reminds us of Martin Crane, Frasier’s dad, who knew a thing ot two about a comfy, traditional chair and for that reason alone it’s in our top five. www.scp.co.uk
STREET STYLE CAMEOS
Name: Mary Blackman-Smith Age: 19 One person you admire: Dita Von Teese Where do you usually buy your clothes: In To Be Worn Again and Camden Market Where did you buy your dress and for how much: In Greenwich Village, ÂŁ30
This month’s best retro-inspired styles Words and pictures by Cristina Maté
Name: Thomas Edgington Age: 27 One person you admire: Humphrey Bogart Where do you usually buy your clothes: In London Where did you buy your jacket and for how much: In Portobello Market, £300
Name: Warren Lambert Age: 37 One person that you admire: Nobody Where do you usually buy your clothes: In Top Man Where did you buy your shoes and for how much: In Office, ÂŁ70
Name: Joseph Heaselgrave Age: 20 One person you admire: Bob Dylan Where do you usually buy your clothes: In Beyond Retro, Zara and Dirty Harry. Where did you buy your waistcoat and for how much: In a charity shop, ÂŁ4
STREET STYLE CAMEOS
Name: Ester Aventín Age: 27 One person you admire: Jeff Wall Where do you usually buy your clothes: In Zara Where did you buy your dress and for how much: In H&M, £25
Words and pictures by Cristina Maté
Name: Rachel Strange Age: 21 One person you admire: Vivienne Westwood Where do you usually buy your clothes: In The Brighton Lanes and charity shops Where did you buy your coat and for how much: In Star Fish, ÂŁ60
Words and pictures by Cristina MatĂŠ
Name: Raquel Martínez Age: 24 One person you admire: Paulo Coelho Where do you usually buy your clothes: In Primark Where did you buy your shoes and for how much: In Yoma, £25
STREET STYLE CAMEOS
Name: Brianna Fryer Age: 22 One person you admire: Vivienne Westwood Where do you usually buy your clothes: In Beyond Retro Where did you buy your dress and for how much: I made it myself
INSPIRED Paul Smith Travel 3/4 Children’s Acoustic Guitar Forget giving this little beauty to the kids. Stick this JHS Vintage Guitar, featuring the Paul Smith 'signature stripe' and famous script signature logo on the headstock, in your travel bag and you’ll be able to transform into a rock god beside the campfire. £153.53 www.heathrowgiftlist.co.uk
Elac ‘De Stijl’ Speakers This will impress your mates when they come round for a session...speakers designed in the style of Mondrian. No? Then point out the De Stijl movement pursued an aesthetic of geometric forms and colour simplicity with a distinctive design principal based on order and clarity. If they’re still looking blank, then, get them another beer and turn up the sound. There you go, finally they’re impressed! £990 www.elac.com
NEW PRODUCTS. CLASSIC INFLUENCE.
LIFESTYLE Ben Sherman Timeless This silver clock with Union Jack face and signature Ben Sherman branding will sit nicely on the bedside table and make you feel like you’re on the set of an Alfie film. But be warned saying ‘"Blimey, girl, you ain't as ugly as I thought" in a Cockney accent when, you wake up, ain’t gonna get you breakfast in bed! £15 www.bensherman.com
Donna Wilson, Hue, Special Edition Armchair We’ve gone a little Donna Wilson crazy this month but this is cool, sophisticated little number. The seat itself measures nearly two metres and the arms are solid and flat so ideal for resting a laptop on and finishing that last bit of work while watching the telly. £1660 www.scp.co.uk
The Geneva Model L Sound System A complete stereo system, crafted in a single cabinet made out of piano lacquered wood which is powered by a very high quality digital amplifier delivering 100 Watts of high-end digital stereo. Awesome. It has a LED display visible under the front cover showing input and track playing, and also comes with rubber feet. It doesn’t come with rubber nose and bottle glasses however, you’ll have to buy those yourself. £18.96 www.scp.co.uk
Tronconi Loopy Table Lamp The Tronconi brand has been a prestigious and historical benchmark of Italian design for over 50 years. Their style is a "classic-cool" look with extremely contemporary traits, marked by the most innovative developments of 3D modelling. The Loopy was designed by Mario Mazzer, an award winning architect, and if you put this in your games room it will send you snooker loopy. $600 www.justvanities.com
Tealight Lava Lamp Aaaah, the iconic lava lamp, and this one only needs a tiny candle to set the pink globules on their hypnotic way. Just in case you hadn’t spotted it, the lamp’s designed to look like a rocket, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing! One small step for man, one pink globule in a rocket lamp for mankind. £28.99 www.iwantoneofthose.com
Oluce Nerolia Table Lamp This table lamp pays homage to the timeless shape of the hour glass, giving off diffused light through a transparent crystal container. You can add aromatherapy essences at the top which are heated by the lamp and as there’s a dimmer you can turn this on and get in the mood for…going to bed, of course. £393 (Including p&p) www.nest.co.uk
LIFESTYLE Nostalgia Electrics Snow Cone Machine Here’s one for the kids. Whack in some ice, crush it to mush in seconds and then add some weirdly coloured, preservative laden, syrupy stuff and you’ll have the kids bouncing off the walls in no time. Now that’s what we call old-fashioned fun. $45 www.walmart.com
Magno Wooden Radio A radio made out of wood…who would have thought? Indonesian designer Singgih Kartono combined the most current MP3 player compatible electronics with sustainably grown woods working with local tradesmen and we think he’s triumphed. We can’t wait to hear ‘Knock On Wood’ played on it and can’t help wondering if Ron Wood has bought one yet? Or Natalie Wood. Or Jedward. O.K. we’ll stop now. Small from $198 www.anthropologie.com
Jonathan Adler Pillows Jonathan Adler is our kind of guy. For starters he owns a dog called Liberace and admits to having a raging obsession with waspy country club style of, wait for it, needlepoint, chinoiserie and acid green lacquer! Now that’s some kind of obsession! He started out as a potter but has moved into all sorts of lifestylely areas. His website is well worth a gander. Pillows from $98 www.jonathanadler.com
Olympus EP-2 Olympus has gone all butch on us with the second of the PEN series with a ‘Back to Black’ finish. To enrich photographic and video potential, the new EP-2 includes a port for an electronic viewfinder or external microphones and with two additional art filters combined with the new i-Enhance function for even more creativity and image enhancement they’re on to a winner, quite literally, as the EP-1 was named EISA's 2009/2010 Best Camera of the Year. £990 www.olympus.co.uk
Magicbox Colombo Answer Phone
Newgate Vision Wall Clock Newgate has a fascination of eras gone by and enjoy the challenge of resurrecting ideas of the past and putting them in homes of the future. Plated with metal hands, spokes and acrylic numbering this 70’s inspired wallclock transported TRC back to mum baking in the kitchen, dad tinkering in the shed and the English cricket team getting walloped by the West Indies in cricket. Heady days indeed. £60 www.heals.co.uk
From the Universale, the first chair to be moulded from one material, to the all-in-one Boby Trolley, everything Joe Colombo created was intended for "the environment of the future". He may have been only 41 when he died but his illumine and legacy live on. If he’d seen this phone he’d probably would have uttered his mantra ‘we’ll just have to make it better’. We’d love to have seen him improve on this pretty cool number. £33.32 www.argos.co.uk
GADGETS VOID VO2 WATCH Voids are the empty spaces between filaments, the largest-scale structures in the universe, containing very few, or no, galaxies. Voids typically have a diameter of 40 to 500 million light years. Void watches, however, don’t have a diameter of 40 to 500 million light years as they’d be too big for your wrist. In fact, they fit perfectly snug. I mean, what are the chances of that. Well, as Swedish designer David Ericsson launched the brand with the belief that just like a great building is designed to fit its environment Void are made to sit perfectly on your wrist, pretty damn likely. £134 www.voidwatches.com
Philco PC Concept Inspired by the 1954 design classic Philco Predicta, as well as an eclectic mixture of modern minimalism, the steampunk movement, and antiques. “The result is a design aesthetic that blends multiple elements of the familiar, but with some surprisingly fresh styling that just so happens to house a state-of-the-art Windows 7 PC.” Can’t say fairer than that. £TBC www.schultzeworks.com
Beatles Limited Edition USB Stick Help! With only 30,000 made, this apple-shaped USB drive is proving tough to get your hands on. Loaded with re-mastered audio for The Beatles 14 stereo titles, as well as all the re-mastered CDs’ visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK art, rare photos and expanded liner notes. This is proving a must have for Beatles fans. £200 http://beatles.fanfire.com
Zumreed Headphones Is reality becoming a bit too much? Need to block out the outside world, then check these doozies out. They make you want to don the roller skates and leg warmers and start whizzing around with the cute girl from LA Story. Now I wonder what ever happened to her? £50 www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk.
8 inch LCD TV
Fiendishly clever this. You think t an old skool, cathode ray tube TV think again my friend. This is a st art LCD TV shaped like a cathode can plug in anywhere and get rec without wires or aerial. And get th titchy 8 inches big. You want one kitchen don’t you. £815 www.plusminuszero.jp
mintpass MP3 Cube
The mintpass MP3 cube is still at concept stage and according to its maker, who looks like a peasant (h words, not ours, from their websit wanted something that was less fanciness and more convenience f the guy on the go, and as quick as can say ‘French stick’, here it is. Designed for your ruck sack with o skool buttons it comes with blueto so you won’t strangle yourself wh you’re running for the le bus. £TBC www.mintpass.com
GADGETS Cassette Speaker It’s a cassette that plugs into your phone and will blast out enough sound to fill a mediumsized room. You may think ‘what’s the point of that?’. Well my friend, if you’re at the beach, we’ll be the ones surrounded by the cool people having a paaarty as this little number plugs into iPods, MP3 players, and laptops meaning the Cassette Speaker is about as hip as a portable speaker gets. Now where did I leave my speedos? $19.99 www.onlyhottrends.com
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Diesel Retro Digital Watch
With digital and analogue display dials you can set this watch to two different time zones. How jet set is that! Water resistant up to 5 ATM, it also comes packaged in a white Diesel presentation box with a 2 year international warranty. Got to dash I see the market’s just opened in New York! £116.47 www.houseoffraser.co.uk
Central Chef Egg Timer This is a 60 minute egg timer. Now we’ve watched a bit of Delia in our time, so we know how long it takes to boil an egg. And this timer begs the question if it’s going to take an hour then that must be one damn humongous-sized egg you’re cooking. Well it is from the States, and as we all know everything is bigger and better over there, so they probably know best. $10.99 www.centralchef.com
INSPIRED
Sc
NEW PRODUCTS. CLASSIC INFLUENCE.
MOTORING
O.K. so this is borderline redneck, but we’re up for a bit of cattle rustling if this is the getaway vehicle! While the standard Scion xB is not even cool in the hatch class, this sleek beast will definitely impress your beer guzzling, baccy-chewing mates. And the added bonus is you can throw all the kids in the back and do the school run. Now that’ll frighten the yummy mummies at the school gate.
cion xB Pickup Concept
BMW Vision Concept
Sleek, stylish with a space want to take her home fro about the Fr채ulein on the vision of the future, 2015 electric motors the BMW in 4.8 seconds but is also consumption. You can als the two gullwings, which i
e age look that makes you om the showroom. But enough right, this is very much a to be precise. With two Vision will crank up to 62mph o ridiculously efficient on fuel so access all four seats from s cool.
MOTORING
INSPIRED
John Smedley is celebrating their 225 anniversary by going back to their origins with long-sleeved crew neck vest (Brigadier) and white Long-Johns (Admiral) made from Merino wool. Toasty! To win vouchers worth ÂŁ225 visit www.johnsmedley225.com
NEW PRODUCTS. CLASSIC INFLUENCE.
ACCESSORIES
From top left: Fred Perry Inflight retro shoulder bag £45, Fred Perry Stripe Trim Trilby £40, Ben Sherman Stalker £40, Diesel Helmet and Paul Smith Speedometer Printed Tote Bag £210
Malice in Wonderland Tim Burton has his critics no matter the budget, length, or genre of film he is directing. In his upcoming adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic he leaves himself wide open again as he gives Alice a history and makes the storyline more cohesive. But the risk taking is why we love him. Christina Andersson celebrates a career that just gets curiouser and curiouser
Image from www.moma.org
A
fter a film career that has so far spanned 24 years, books of poetry, an autobiography and now a book of previously unseen artwork, Tim Burton could be considered a man in touch with his creative side. Undoubtedly you have seen, if not heard of, a Burton film. His back catalogue ranges from producing 1993’s landmark stop-motion animation film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, to directing 2005’s remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and 2007’s Sweeney Todd among many others. But Burton’s soon-to-be-released film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is possibly the most eagerly anticipated he has made to date. Burton has a dark side, his smaller films are over-the-top in a low-key kind of way, and his big budget features are often poorly received by critics. But he doesn’t have a penchant for making dark films; it isn’t a habit. He makes films that he can understand and relate to, and for him and
anyone of a similar mindset, they aren’t dark, they’re ironic and a warped reflection of a world that’s designed to be explored. Tim Burton was born in 1958 in Burbank, California. He went to the California Institute of the Arts at age 18 on a program set up by Disney, the company he subsequently worked for. By his own admission, he was a poor employee. He resented the mundane atmosphere and did not consider himself good enough at drawing to be an animator (his first task was ‘work drawing’ fox’s for ‘The Fox and the Hound’) and after a period of time in which it could be said that Burton suffered a minor emotional breakdown, perhaps relating to his helplessness in not being able to express himself creatively, he began working as a conceptual artist for Disney about which he says “(it) was great because for several months I just got to sit in a room and draw whatever creature I wanted to”. It was during this time that he was given $60,000 to produce ‘Vincent’ a 5-minute stop-motion animation based on a poem he had written. Then followed more short animations under the wing of Disney. After Burton split with the company, he directed his first feature; Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. It was at this time that Burton began his working relationship with musician and composer Danny Elfman, who has composed for all of Burton’s films since, apart from, Ed Wood. Released in 1985, ‘Pee Wee’ was a box office hit, although critically, reviews were mixed. Next up was Beetlejuice, an odd, gothic and archetypal piece of work from Burton. It is a film with no purpose, no catharsis and no explanation. It centres around The Maitland’s, a couple who die in a car crash, and find themselves trying to scare out the family who are moving in to their old home. After Beetlejuice, Burton worked on ‘Batman’, which went on to be one of the highest grossing films of all time, taking in
excess of $500 million worldwide as well as winning an Oscar. But many critics complained the film was too dark as well as criticising Burton for focusing too much on Jack Nicholson’s ‘The Joker’. Following ‘Batman’, Burton started work on Edward Scissorhands, and so began a working relationship with Johnny Depp, which continues to this day. Edward Scissorhands is unable to touch his surroundings, isolating him from normal society and he is classed as a freak in the suburbs he lives in, firstly being used as a mobile household appliance, to being used as a sex toy by one of the neighbours. On top of that he is unable to show his love for the girl who lives in the house in which he is staying, because he is too scared he will hurt her. Batman Returns was Burton’s next feature; noted as having a few too many villains, which overshadowed Michael Keaton’s return as Batman. Further down the line Burton produced The Nightmare Before Christmas and directed Ed Wood, the latter, whilst being well received by critics, was a commercial failure. It was followed by Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd (among others). Planet of the Apes was on the surface, possibly the least Burton-esque film that Burton has made so far, being criticised for being too ‘watered down’ in comparison with the 1968 film adaptation of the novel. Reportedly he argued with the studio continuously during production and it was perceived that he was only there to ‘do as he was asked’. In his own words he says, “I think the real problem with the film was that the script they wanted to do, I couldn’t do, and I don’t know anybody that could have done it for the budget that we had to do the film for.” Tim Burton’s smaller productions (Ed Wood, The Nightmare Before Christmas,
Mad Hatter: Johnny Depp collaborates once again with Tim Burton in his upcoming release, Alice in Wonderland
Beetlejuice etc) have all become so popular would this big, macho, Arnold Schwarzenegthat they have gained cult followings. This is ger-type person dress up as a bat?” And referring to Michael Keaton; “that guy you compared to his big budget movies (The could see putting on a bat suit; he does it Batman franchise, Charlie and the because he needs to, because he’s not this Chocolate Factory and Planet of the Apes), gigantic, strapping macho man. It’s all about which were met with mixed reviews by critics (although the box office figures speak transformation”. Effectively, Burtons work is criticised for for themselves). With Batman; perhaps the not being ‘typical’ enough. With Batman it problem lies in the viewer expecting a certain something from the film, for it to stay was ‘too dark’ and too much time was spent true to one of its previous outings on screen on the villain. With Batman he explained that or print. Often it is his less he didn’t favour The Joker over the title character, it was just the But the studio knew that prominent films dynamics of the relationship, when they appointed Burton where we get to see which made the Joker seem as director, they would be getting a director whose a real insight into the more prominent. But that is Tim creative vision was unique to mind of this man Burton; throughout his films he has wanted to get to know the say the least. Despite 50,000 letters of complaint from fans of Bat- underdog. Most of his films are about the man to Warner Bros. Burton decided to use person who is overlooked in everyday life, Michael Keaton for the role. Burton’s under- the person who is considered strange. And that includes Bruce Wayne as well as The standing of the character was in the end, Joker, with his interpretation of these men one of the things that made the film so sucdifferent to any of the previous attempts at cessful. humanising them, and judging by box office Batman’s (Bruce Wayne’s alter ego) suit figures, the most successful. was changed from blue to black and When considering Tim Burton’s success included fake muscles. Michael Keaton was in his feature film work, it would be easy to not the obvious choice for Batman, he was overlook his smaller budget movies, to not the strapping, muscular and consider them stepping-stones to something overpowering crime buster the fans had bigger. But often it is his less prominent films wanted. But Burton didn’t see that Bruce where we get to see a real insight into the Wayne should have to be like that, “why
A BRIEF HISTORY OF BURTON: From the early days of ‘Vincent’ to the reworking of Lewis Carrol’s classic ‘Alice
mind of this man. A running theme in his movies is characters that are underdeveloped snippets of society; outsiders and freaks. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, although a box office hit, received mixed reviews. Critics said the characters were too weird, the whole tone was too dark and Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka was too eccentric, though not every critic referred themselves to the original book by Dahl, from which Burton’s film did not stray too far. Again, Burton gave his character a history, Wonka we find out, was the son of a dentist who never let him eat sweets, and on Halloween would collect all his son’s candy and throw it in the fire. When he eventually tasted chocolate he wanted to create as many different kinds as he could. Johnny Depp’s Wonka didn’t like children, was rude rather than eccentric but nonetheless it was a success for Burton and Depp as they created a character who wasn’t to be accepted, just understood. The next big thing on the list for Burton is the release of Alice in Wonderland. It is an extension of the original story as Alice returns to Wonderland many years after she first went there. On previous versions of the iconic story Burton says: "It was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt
any real emotional connection." His goal with this film was “to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events”. It would be possible to go through every one of Burton’s films and analyse it, but it would not be necessary. He has had box office success and failure and the same with his critics, but it cannot be doubted that he is one of the most innovative and imaginative directors on screen today. Does he struggle to keep things personal when so much money is being thrown at a production? Does he lose a sense of self? No doubt his small budget films allow him to delve further into his mind to produce something a little more avant-garde, there are less boxes to tick from the studio for one. But nonetheless, even with Batman – the grandest production he has undertaken – he retained his ideals and stuck to his guns producing a piece of work that was watched by millions and stayed true to the original ideals even after his constant arguments with the studios about control. Tim Burton isn’t out of his depth in Wonderland, just so long as you don’t expect anything from it. Check out The Moma exhibition, NY till late April, which explores the full range of Burton’s creative work, from his early childhood visualisation drawings to his mature film work. www.moma.org
in Wonderland’, Tim Burton is considered one of the most ingenious and imaginative film makers of our time
PARTY LIKE IT’S 1 Probably the greatest investment in the world. Except this is Guinness we’re talking, not Carlsberg. As the brand celebrates its 250 anniversary, Purple Gez goes in search of black gold and reveals her top Guinness facts, anecdotes and nuggets to impress your mates with while you wait at the bar for a pint. Including the fact, Guinness isn’t actually black!
1759
1 An act of God
W
hen Irish Arch Bishop Arthur Price left £100 in his will to his godson he undoubtedly made the best investment of his life (or afterlife). As investments goes it was pure genius with the money used by his godson to expand the brewery his father was the steward of, paying dividends a billion times over.
Alease for life A
2
rthur Guinness (left) brewed ales from 1759 in his home town of Leixlip, County Kildare. That year, he invented a porter style beer he made his namesake, and being so sure of its success he moved to premises at St James’ Gate, Dublin, and signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per year.
3 The ruby stuff G
uinness is brewed from water, barley, hops and brewers’ yeast; treated with isinglass finings (from fish air bladders), and is pasteurised and filtered. A portion of the barley is roasted, giving the distinctive dark colour and characteristic flavour. Although the brew appears black, it is officially a very dark shade of ruby. Guinness is credited with the origination of the stout genre of beer, but use of the word stout was mentioned in the Egerton Manuscript of 1677, almost fifty years prior to Arthur Guinness’ birth. The first Guinness beers to use the term were Single Stout and Double Stout in the 1840s.
Forever blowing bubbles
4
D
raught Guinness and its canned equivalent contain nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Nitrogen is less soluble than carbon dioxide, allowing the beer to be put under high pressure without causing fizziness. The high pressure of dissolved gas is necessary for the formation of tiny bubbles, caused by forcing the draught beer through fine holes in a bespoke plate in the tap. This generates the hallmark surge (the widget in cans and bottles achieve the same effect). Bubbles touching the sides of a glass during pouring are slowed in their upward rise and appear to be travelling downwards. However, bubbles in the centre of the glass are free to rise to the surface, forming
5TAs good as it gets
he Belfast Telegraph, December 21, 2007 featured an article about heart attacks where researchers at Wisconsin University found that a pint of stout at meal times, works as well as a low dose aspirin taken each day. Dogs with narrowed arteries mimicking those of humans to test the health-giving properties of the stout, were given just over a pint a day, and found to receive most health benefit. They established the antioxidant compounds present in Guinness, are similar to those found in certain fruit and vegetables, and have health benefits as they slow down the deposits of cholesterol on the artery walls. If research proves true it would back up claims made by Benson in the 1920s that ‘Guinness is Good For You’.
their own inner cascade of bubbles. As the Guinness rises, the bubbles create a current resulting in the movement of one fluid by another. As Guinness rises in the centre, the brew near the outside of the glass falls, pushing the bubbles at the side of the glass towards the bottom, creating a drag effect. This occurs in any liquid, but is particularly noticeable in Guinness as the drink combines dark coloured liquid with light coloured bubbles. The perceived smoothness of draught Guinness is because of the low level of carbon dioxide; the creaminess of the head is due to the extremely fine bubbles arising from using nitrogen and the bespoke tap.
G
6 Making a mark
uinness adopted the 14th century harp of Brian Boru as its trademark in 1862, but with a twist. The Guinness harp faces left as in the Irish Coat Of Arms, rather than right as on the original symbol. The actual harp is on display in Trinity College, Dublin. In 1920, Guinness ran an advertising campaign based on market research where people said they felt good after their pint – the slogan, ‘Guinness is Good For You’ was born. The stout became known as ‘food in a glass’, though a pint contains only 193 calories. Although Guinness was asked not to use this slogan, and they still do not make any health claims, the slogan is still used abroad.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Benson’s advertising created a series of posters, predominately drawn by John Gilroy. These usually featured animals such as the seal, lion and the irrepressible toucan which is as much a symbol of Guinness as the harp. Slogans included were ‘Guinness for Strength’, ‘Guinness Makes You Strong’, ‘My Goodness, My Guinness’ and ‘Guinness is Good For You’. Gilroy’s idiosyncratic artwork was aided by Dorothy L. Sayers among others, who in the 1940s, sketched the iconic toucan, and coined the phrase, ‘Toucans in their nests agree, Guinness is good for you, try some today and see what one or toucan can do’. The first Guinness ad to
appear on TV was entitled ‘Poster Comes to Life’ and carried the caption ‘Guinness – it’s alive inside’. It was broadcast September 22, 1955 on ITV, the first ever evening ad to appear on UK TV and depicts a zookeeper sitting on a bench, taking a break, looking for his pint of Guinness and discovers a seal dancing on ice with a pint on its nose. The 2007 advert ‘Tipping Point’ was the most expensive with a budget of £10m. A large scale domino effect using 6,000 dominoes, 400 tyres, 75 mirrors, 50 fridges, 45 wardrobes and 6 cars; the chain tumbles down the streets of a small village to a crescendo of 10,000 books that flip open to create a giant pint of Guinness.
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The art of pouring Guinness Using the traditional two-part pour: * Use a clean normal size, tulip-shaped pint glass and tilt to a 45 degree angle; fill to three-quarters full. * Allow the 'surge' to settle until a clear separation can be seen between the dark and the head (which should be about 1.5cm and a light cream colour) at the top. This usually takes about 90 seconds. * Fill the glass to the top with a final quarter pint of Guinness. * When pouring from a pump you can draw a lucky 'shamrock' shape in the top, although this takes practice. * Use the same procedure when pouring from a bottle or can. The double pour stems from when Guinness was blended with beer naturally fermented in ancient oak tuns. Older beer was poured into a glass until three-quarters full then left to stand. When a pint was ordered, it was topped up from younger, more gaseous beer to produce the traditional head. Although the stout is no longer blended from older brews, the double pour is maintained because it produces a better head without the need to discard the top. * 70 million glasses of Guinness are poured every week.
Record breakers
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In the pre-web world where facts couldn’t be checked instantly, Guinness found a niche in British and Irish pubs where genial conversation often deviated into heated debate concerning certain claims to fame or infamy. In order to determine the rights and wrongs of such claims, the Guinness Book of Records was instigated, the first edition appearing in 1955. It is now the best selling book behind The Bible.
Famous Guinness quotes...
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Guinness has a longstanding relationship with food, in particular seafood. Benjamin Disraeli is known to have had the perfect combination of oysters and stout on the night of November 2, 1837 which he commented on was ‘the most remarkable day hitherto of my life’.
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In 1829 The Morning Post was recommending Guinness consumption: ‘Guinness’s Dublin Stout. This article is confidently recommended for home consumption and for export, and must, from its age, purity and soundness, ensure the approbation and support of the Public’.
James Joyce wrote in Finnegan’s Wake: ‘Let us find that pint of porter pace...Benjamin’s Lea...and see the famous homely brew, bebattled by bottle, then put a James’s Gate in my hand’.
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At the Battle of Waterloo a severely injured cavalry officer made the following entry in his diary: ‘I was sufficiently recovered to be permitted to take some nourishment. I felt an extraordinary desire for a glass of Guinness. Upon expressing my wish to the doctor, he told me I might take a small glass. I shall never forget how much I enjoyed it. I am confident that it contributed more than anything else to the renewal of my strength’.
This is an extract from an article entitled ‘Speaking of Grandparents’ by Compton Mackenzie: ‘HL Batemen was a man of immense vitality characteristic of so much old American stock. Some time before his marriage in 1839 he had travelled back from Ireland to America in an emigrate ship, and way across the Atlantic by inserting a pipe into a barrel of Guinness. To live entirely on Guinness for over a month was indeed a tribute to its virtue’.
James Joyce submitted a slogan to the brewery: ‘The free, the flow, the frothy freshener’. It was passed over in favour of ‘Guinness is good for you’.
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From A.J. Cronin’s Grand Canary: ‘I got me eddication holdin’ horses in Sackville Street, and learned me letters spellin’ the Guinness’s adverts. Ye wouldn’t believe it, me that reads Playto like a scholar’.
An extract from Dylan Thomas Adventures in the Skin Trade: ‘I remember once I drank forty-nine Guinnesses straight off and I came home on the top of the bus. There’s nothing morbid about a man who can do that. Right on the top of the bus, too, not just the upper deck.
Hilary Tailor Classic In The Making After ten years in the sportswear industry working for adidas and Puma as a trend and colour consultant, Hilary set up her own design consultancy, HST Creative. She now works with clients in sportswear, fashion, design and publishing. This month in her first column for TRC, Hilary considers what it takes to create a classic.
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s we get older, part of the ageing process is Denmark’s most sold chair. Why? Partly because our dislike of unnecessary complication. We the design is pared down, but crucially, it is need to cut to the chase. Things must work, stackable. A simple detail, but one that sets it apart must work quickly, and they must look Being uncomfortable from many of its rivals. Simple and great while doing it. How many is what inexperienced functional. I don’t deny that a sense of thirty-somethings do you see clubbing in people do. Products history is important here: there is a the winter without a coat? Being we hold close to our reason people pay a small fortune for uncomfortable is what inexperienced Big “E” Levi’s as opposed to their more heart are tied people do. modern offspring. But a product would together by two key Products we hold close to our heart, elements: simplicity not endure if it didn’t work in the first many years after conception, are tied place. But what about modern brands? and functionality together by two key elements: simplicity It’s hard to find any future classics and functionality. Take the apple I-phone, a classic amongst all the detritus on our high street. Why? in the making. The reason we love it, is that we can Because nobody can be bothered investing in use child-like sweeping movements with our fingers product development, craftsmanship or quality. We to get where we want to. A pre-schooler could are enduring the era of Primark and our forefathers master it. The underlying technology might be are rolling in their graves. Thankfully, there are complicated, but the way we use it isn’t. It’s examples of companies who really care about their instinctive, it works and it looks great. product, and they design it with the And this is why a classic endures. hope that it will still be sitting in your Think of all those seventies adidas home years from now. shoes still in production and living Lodger Footwear: 2008 was not the under your bed. Why would you want best time to launch a luxury footwear to buy them when footwear technology brand, but Lodger combines traditional has advanced so much in the last 40 hand crafted gentlemen’s shoes with years? Because they do the job and new details, cutting edge technology they look fantastic. They look fantastic and a modern approach to selling. They because they go with everything in have a 3D laser scanner in their Clifton your wardrobe. Street shop, flat screen tellies and a bar underneath the store. They’ve defied The Arne Jacobsen’s “Ant” chair the recession by saying something new (right) made from a single piece of about a product rooted in tradition. steam-bent plywood was first Biomega: Beautifully designed city produced in 1955 and still remains
bikes that make you want to ditch the car. They team up with luminaries like Mark Newson and Ross Lovegrove, who designed a lightweight bamboo bike. Folk/Shofolk: Founded in 2001, Folk is a casual menswear brand who are fussy about details, colour and fabrication. They spend a lot of time looking for the right (not the cheapest) manufacturer, so they have an eclectic mix of product made in Uruguay, England, Portugal and Peru. Their footwear is made in limited numbers.
Lena Bergstrom: (above) Swedish Glassware that is simple, elegant and cool. Her thoughtful use of colour makes her work stand out in a quiet way. Lara Bohnic: (below right) O.K., so not the most simple of designs, but her jewellery is original, beautiful and the simpler pieces endure. Her stuff gets noticed and is copied, badly, by less talented souls. Companies that didn’t make the grade: Philips: The time and trouble they spend on their research and development is let down by forgettable design. Honda: Great ads, good brand personality, but would you really want one sitting in your driveway? The Dyson washing machine: The Dyson Contrarotator was supposed to revolutionise the washing machine industry in the same way the Dyson Vacuum did, but it was withdrawn from the market due to poor sales despite being more efficient than its competitors. Weird. Sony: Once the pioneers of portable music, Sony were overtaken by better product produced by rivals. They tried to relaunch the Walkman in 2005 but by that time, Apple were dictating the market. Hollister: Any company that has the audacity
for making up a fictitious brand “history” deserves to fail. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened to Hollister yet, but there’s still time. So what does all this mean for the modern company, or designer, who is eager to create their own classics? Firstly, it helps to have a sense of HISTORY: adidas, Levi’s, Burberry are lucky in having a company heritage they can rely on to bring about authenticity to their product. Secondly, it should be FUNCTIONAL: If it doesn’t work, it won’t be treasured. You may love those beautiful shoes that cost you a month’s salary, but you won’t buy another pair if they shave your heels off every time you take a step. Thirdly, BE A PIONEER. Apple deservedly occupy their position at the top of the tree because they are often first in the market, or they revolutionise what is already there. James Dyson will forever be remembered as the man who brought us transparent bagless vacuum cleaners. Finally, KEEP IT SIMPLE. There is a reason the Little Black Dress endures but the Big Red One doesn’t. Simplicity dates less than ostentation. There is certainly a market for fussiness, but it is a safer bet that a design will endure when there is less to dislike. I work as a trend consultant, and much of my job involves looking at the past, taking lessons from it and applying them to future designs. Successful companies, like the ones I have mentioned, are often held up as role models for others. These companies were all pioneers in their time, and no doubt the technology behind the design was often very complicated to master, but the outcome does not reflect that, it just makes it look effortless. The era we live in now is very different. We have a much shorter attention span. We are reluctant to wait. Information is bite sized, instant and immediate. Price is often the first thing we think about before we design a product. The result is a rejection of traditional craftsmanship and long-term product development in favour of a quick, impactful, attention-grabbing bargain. And companies who follow this ethos are unlikely to be making classics. Those who are taking a bit more trouble to get a product right and invest in quality deserve your full attention. And you should give it to them.
REVENGE OF Who said being a nerd wasn’t cool. Mainstream Japanese society may look down on these obsessive animé, manga and gamer fans. But a billion pound industry driven by conscientious, young males with disposable income has become a lucrative target market. Purple Gez looks at the geeks who inherited the worth.
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taku wasn’t meant to define a cultural phenomenon. Otaku may be a Japanese label, but it’s not a designer label to be worn with pride. The term Otaku is a barbed comment made by a conservative, traditional Japanese society on a generation of young males schooled on rampant capitalism who they’re now unable to connect with. In its most basic form it’s a term used to refer to anyone with obsessive interests but has come to define a social group: Young men who spend too much time on their computers, who don’t have a social life and would run a mile if they came into contact with somebody from the opposite sex. But as these supposed social outcasts retreated to their bedrooms and their computers in controlled rebellion, they
chose their subject matter astutely, their screens lighting up with animé, manga and to a lesser extent, video games. Their commitment, fanaticism and dedication to the cause was something their state and work proud parents would have respected if they thought they were involved in worthwhile pursuits. So as the market for these genres exploded these nerds are now in positions of power and gaining a grudging respect from an elder generation much as 60’s rock and rollers did in the UK. Otakus are now reclaiming the term and wearing it as a badge of honour but where does the term come from? William Gibson in his 1996 novel Idoru, makes several references to Otaku which has served to bring the term to a wider
F THE OTAKU
audience: “The Otaku, the passionate obsessive, the information age’s embodiment of the connoisseur, more concerned with the accumulations of data than of objects seems a natural crossover figure in today’s interface of British and Japanese cultures.” In his opinion, the understanding of Otaku-hood is one of the key elements in understanding web culture. The main enthusiasts would seem to be mostly male in their teens or twenties, usually dressed in jeans, T-shirt and trainers. The garb is synonymous with Otaku, and in fashion conscious Japan is identifiable with the genre. Otaku devotees relish technical communication, media and the sphere of representation and simulation generally.
They are avid collectors and tacticians of impracticable artifacts, information and edification. Although they are clandestine, somewhat avant-garde, they do not oppose the system. Rather Otaku devotees adapt, manipulate and subvert available products; while being the zenith of consumerism and an ideal workforce for contemporary Japanese capitalism. In the first in a series of articles TRC portray the various sectors that the Otaku branch into. Animé: Animé originated at the beginning of the 20th century with Japanese film makers experimenting with techniques in use in the west with distinct genres, such as Mecha and Super-Robot, emerging in the 1970s. Very few complete early Japanese
animations have survived as once the clips had finished their designated run, the reels were sold to smaller cinemas, which clipped and sold them as either strips or single frames. A notable animator from the early 1900s is Kochi un’ichi, a caricaturist and painter. He began drawing cartoons in 1912, and in 1916 was employed as an animator by Kobayashi Shokai. He is considered to be the most technically advanced Japanese animator of the 1910s, making about 15 films. Kitayama Seitaro was an early animator who made his own films, rather than for large companies. Although he founded his own studio, this eventually closed from lack of commercial success. He employed the chalkboard method and paper animation with and without pre-printed backgrounds. The Namakura-gatana (An Obtuse Sword, 1917) by Jun-ichi Kouchi (pictured below), and Urashima Taro (Legend of a Japanese Fisherman, 1918) were discovered at an Osaka antique market in 2007. These are
thought to be the earliest cartoons ever produced in Japan. Urashima Taro has been identified as the earliest example of time travel, the fisherman finding himself 300 years in the future as the tale progresses. Toei Animation, founded in 1948, produced the first colour animé feature film in 1958, Hakujaden (The Tale of the White Serpent). Although more ‘Disney’ with musical numbers and animals, it is considered to be the first ‘animé’. In 1961 it was released in the US as Panda and the Magic Serpent. Between 1958 and the mid 1960s, Toei continued to release Disney-style films. Toei’s style was emphasised by each animator using his own production ideas. One example is Isao Yakahaha’a film Hols: Prince of the Sun, 1968. This film is perceived as a dramatic break from the usual animé and the origins of a later movement of ‘auteuristic’, or progressive animé, in which directors such as Hayao Miyazaki, creator of Spirited Away, and
Mamoru Oshii would later be involved. In the 1970s Japanese animation declined due to competition from television, reducing Toei animation staff. Former employees of Mushi Productions founded Madhouse Production and Sunrise, becoming directors as well as animators. This new talent heralded a variety of experimentation, the earliest success being in 1970 with Tomorrow’s Joe, a boxing animé which has become iconic in Japan. In 1974, Isao Takahata’s television series Heidi, Girl of the Alps, became an international success and enabled Hayao Miyazaki and Takahata to establish the World Masterpiece Theatre, a unique concept at the time. Two of Miyazaki’s critically acclaimed productions, Future Boy Conan, 1978 and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, 1979 were made at Nippon Animation, the studios famous for producing animé literary works like Anne of Green Gables and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Simultaneously another genre, Mecha, appeared. Early works include Mazinger Z, 1972-1974, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, 1972 – 1974, Space Battleship Yamato, 1974 – 1975 and Mobile Suit Gundam, 1979 – 1980. These titles illustrated progression in the science fiction field, moving from the super hero fantasy type to more realistic space operas and blurring accepted boundaries between right and wrong. The 1980s saw Japan accept animé into the mainstream and production boomed. The film Akira, a 1988 adaptation of manga, set records for production costs and became a worldwide success. Animé series Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and Pokemon, with films
similar to Ghost in the Shell became worldwide successes in the 1990s and 2000s. Other animé series largely popular in Japan: Gundam, Macross, Neon Genesis Evangelion also attracted interest from the West who produced their own animations. The expansion of the internet enabled fansub (fan-subtitled) animé; fansub being a version of a foreign film or television programme translated by fans in to any language other than the original. In 2004, Akira’s creator, Katsuhiro Otomo produced “Steamboy”, the most expensive animé film produced. The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, modified as part of the Robotech and Megazone23 gained worldwide recognition when adapted as Robotech. This brings us full circle to Japan’s longest running and oldest animation known to almost all Japanese Sazae-san (see above), created by Machiko Hasegawa and first published in his local paper. The animation dealt with contemporary situations in Tokyo until Hasegawa retired in 1974. A typical Sazae script for the comic was topical. In the beginning Sazae just wanted to be herself rather than dress in a kimono and use make up to attract a husband. Hasegawa was before her time in advocating feminism. Sazae was a liberated woman and early plotlines show her dominating her husband, to the concern of her neighbours who firmly believe the man should be head of the household.The storylines depicted family dynamics and presented in a jocular fashion, despite the topical nature. This popular animé, shows how roles in traditional Japanese society were changing, something any Otaku would view with a wry smile.
Avalanch Snowboarding was patented as a concept in 1939, made popular for kids during the 60s by the Snurfer and finally gained international respect becoming an Olympic sport in 1998. Graeme Coop goes on the trail of the bastard son of skiing and discovers it hasn’t been all green runs for the sport
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drenaline junkies, it seems, can be traced back to 5000BC. Norwegian cave paintings of men on skis hunting prey, are proof that hurling oneself down snow-covered hills at breakneck speed has always been a cool thing to do. Strange then there is no solid record of skiing’s rebellious cousin - the snowboard, until the 20th century. Accounts of soldiers in WW1 sliding on barrel staves and a snowboard dating back to the 1920s are as good as it gets, so to find how snowboarding was brought to the masses, we have to go back to Christmas morning 1965 in Muskegon, Michigan. Fascinated by surfing and a big fan of the recently released Beach Boys ‘California Girls’, Sherman Poppen, was chucked out of the family home by an irritable, pregnant wife. In a moment of inspiration he looked up at the snow
covered hill and saw a wave. Remembering his daughter’s attempts to stand on her sled, he screwed together two pairs of children’s skis, and fixed a rope to the nose so the rider could hold on, and the first prototype snowboard was created. His wife later named it the ‘snurfer’. In 1966 the first Snurfer board went into production, and were seen as mostly a toy for children. Poppen began to organise Snurfer board competitions where one of the earliest competitors, Jake Burton, became interested in making his own brand of snowboard. Burton is currently the sport’s leading manufacturer. In 1969 Dimitrije Milovich, inspired by sliding down hills on a cafeteria tray started his own company, Winterstick, which combined the way surfboards and skis work with uni-directional boards and a 'fish tail' design that was conducive to riding in
he
Image courtesy of Bataleon
Magazine in 1987 helped the sport grow in powder conditions. In 1972 the first 'snowpopularity, and by 1990 every European board' went into production. Winterstick gained exposure in 'Powder' magazine and country as well as Japan, New Zealand, Canada and Australia offered exclusive 'Newsweek,' and although no longer in production, the Winterstick board is viewed coverage of the sport. However, the young sport’s climb to by enthusiasts as a collector's item. Tom popularity wasn’t so readily accepted in the Sims, who was an avid skateboarder, read eyes of the traditional media, an article in the articles on Winterstick and became obsessed with snowboarding. He made his Time magazine in 1988 claimed snowboarding to be “The worst new first snowboard in a shop by glueing sport...a clumsy intrusion on the sleek plywood together and putting carpeting on precision of downhill skiing. Snowboarding top for traction. Sims is now one of the is not about grace and style but about biggest manufacturers of snowboard and raging hormones.” skateboard gear in the world. The Wall Street In 1981, the first Sherman Poppen looked Journal in 1994 described magazine called 'Snowboarder' went into up at the snow-covered snowboarding as ‘the fastest growing sport with production.1982 saw the hill and saw a wave participation up 50 per cent first National Snowboard since the previous winter’.The next day race held on a steep, icy downhill run, Ride Snowboards became the first called 'The Face' on Suicide Six, Vermont. snowboarding company to go public, raising In 1985 only 39 of the approximately 600 over $5m in its first day on the stock ski areas allowed snowboards. exchange.The sport was still struggling for Despite the sport’s growing popularity, the skiing community was slow to warm to it acceptance on the world’s ski slopes until the late 90s, when it was first included at and snowboarding was allowed at only a the winter Olympics in Japan 1998. few resorts with ski patrols looking out for Snowboarding captured the public’s these young men speeding down the attention for the duration of the games, and slopes causing problems to the skiers. The first magazine dedicated exclusively by the next winter games held in Salt Lake City, where the Americans won their first to snowboarding was launched in 1985. medal sweep at a games since 1956, Absolutely Radical was the vision of establishing the sport as a media darling publisher Tom Hseih and helped bring the and firmly in the mainstream. sport to the mainstream. The magazine By the following Winter Olympics in changed its name six months later to 2006, held in Torino, Italy, the sport featured International Snowboard Magazine to tone three disciplines: slalom, halfpipe and down the sports already ‘radical’ image. boardercross. The events attracted more Snowboarding got its first movie media attention than ever, the riders appearance in 1985 in the James Bond performing to sold out crowds at each one. classic ‘A View To A Kill’, which sees Bond There are now over 5.1 million escape from his ski clad pursuers with ease as he glides over a lake on his snowboard, snowboarders every year in the US alone, with millions more visiting resorts all over leaving them to sink behind him. the world. For a sport that didn’t exist fifty The launch of Trans World Snowboarding Magazine and Snowboarder years ago, it’s become a permanent fixture.
Image courtesy of Bataleon
Bataleon Cutting edge: Norwegian company Bataleon are leading snowboard design with their triple base technology. They also look seriously sharp and you’ll be the funkiest guy on the slopes with these under your feet (see above). www.bataleon.com
Top Five Snowboarding Destinations In The World Planning a last minute snowboarding break? Forget the travel agents, and let The Retro Collective recommend some places worth a visit
WHISTLER, CANADA Host to the 2010 winter Olympics and rated the number one resort in North America, Whistler is a must see for all snow lovers, boarders or skiers. The village itself lies cradled between two monstrous mountains and boasts over 7000 acres of varied and challenging terrain, including bowls, steeps, trees, 2 terrain parks and 3 pipes (2 of them super pipes). The resort is extremely popular, so best to avoid school holidays as the 10,000 population swells by up to five times Whistler, Canada during peak times.
TIGNES, FRANCE Known for its expansive terrain and notorious nightlife, Tignes has all the ingredients for a truly memorable trip. Due to the height of the resort (around 3500m) the snow is often better than elsewhere, but of course this does mean it gets mighty cold! Great off piste, at the top of almost every lift, and views to die for.
ST ANTON, AUSTRIA image: www.summitlodge.com
Reputed to have some of the best terrain in the world, St Anton has variety to suit everyone, although freeriders enjoy it the most. Whether you’re an experienced rider or a first timer, the steeps, deep powder, air, and trees on all sides of the mountain slopes make it a hard place to beat. It is renowned for its vast off piste tracks, and while it may not give the appearance of a
Whistler, Canada
image: www.stantonski.com
boarder friendly resort, the snow will show, and therefore appearances in this case are very much deceptive.
LAKE TAHOE, USA One of the world’s most picturesque alpine lakes, Tahoe is situated between two states, California and Nevada. It has excellent freestyle facilities due to the fierce competition to attract boarders to the 13 resorts situated there. St Anton, Austria Definitely a place more about the boarding than the nightlife, but the ones who visit are rewarded with perfectly set half pipes and numerous parks.
SNOWPARK, NEW ZEALAND
image: www.snowboarding.transworld.net
Built as a specific terrain park in 2002, Snowpark features over 40 kickers, rails, boxes and a world class super pipe and is a must visit for all freestylers. Last year they introduced night riding, two nights a week during July and August, but visitors need to have their own gear as there are no hire facilities available in the resort yet.
Snowpark, New Zealand
Jeremy Daldry Culinary Comebacks: The Prawn Cocktail Spending most of his time skulking round kitchens or with his nose in an obscure cookbook, Jeremy’s made food shows for the BBC and commissioned for UKTV Food. Here he comes out fighting for a 70’s classic
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t’s difficult to think of anything ‘good’ that Back in the 70s the quality of prawns left an came out of the 1970s. It’s the bastard decade awful lot to be desired. Fresh un-cooked that the rest of the century is embarrassed prawns, on ice, in their shells? Forget it. What by. The inbred cousin who at family gatherings prawns we had were deep frozen, badly gets over excited and starts dribbling, only to be transported, little pink bullets which when ignored in the hope that he will just do the defrosted had the strange texture of rubbery decent thing and die, quietly in the corner. It cardboard and the lingering taste of the inside was the decade that gave us Peters & Lee, of a cat’s mouth. But despite these major terrorism at the Olympics, suburban wife drawbacks in both taste and texture we couldn’t swapping and Thatcher. Thanks a bunch 1970s. get enough of them. Prawns screamed glamour, The food wasn’t a whole lot better. they screamed expensive, they screamed that In our house, Vesta Curry or a Fray Bentos ‘yes, we have a new Ford Granada, Melamine pie from a tin followed with, if we were lucky, a kitchen and wall to wall shag’. fluorescent Angel Delight that tasted like A prawn cocktail was a social indicator that shampoo and bubble gum was considered the you where going somewhere, that you had cornerstone of a balanced and faintly exotic money and therefore good taste. But, of course, meal. The only, and very occasional, jewel that you didn’t have ‘good taste’ because as with lit up the 70’s table was the most things that people buy Prawns screamed glamour, appearance on high days and to impress others with, the they screamed expensive, they only impressive thing about holidays of a deep pink mound screamed that ‘yes, we have a 1970’s frozen North Atlantic of freshly defrosted prawns, covered in a wonderfully cloying new Ford Granada, Melamine prawn was its price. kitchen and wall to wall shag sauce all piled on wilting lettuce So the 1970’s host had a and served in a Martini glass dilemma. How to show off with a slice of lemon jauntily wedged on its rim. your taste in expensive ingredients without The prawn cocktail drenched in Marie Rose actually making your guests retch? What was sauce, possibly the best, and maybe the only, decent thing to come out of the 1970’s kitchen. So why has the Prawn Cocktail fallen from grace? Why isn’t it celebrated and enjoyed in the very best restaurants, why can it only be found on the menu at Harvesters (£3.49 with a Thousand Island Dressing - wrong) or at painfully ironic dinner parties held in Shoreditch? It’s all because of the sauce. The very thing that makes a prawn cocktail great, the thick almost cackling Marie Rose sauce that catches at the back of throat, is also what makes the dish deeply unfashionable, Bentleys: Provides the Rolls Royce of seafood cocktails hated by chefs and sublimely wonderful.
needed to make the dish eatable, enjoyable even, was a strong flavoured sauce, so strong in fact that the main ingredient could be hidden, masked, used purely as a delivery system for the sauce. What was needed was a sauce that could stage a culinary coup and usurp the main ingredient entirely, taking over and becoming the reason for the dish to exist in the first place. And that is what a Marie Rose sauce was born to do – it’s the ultimate culinary bullyboy. No one in their right mind would take a flavour as delicate, light and precise as a fresh prawn and smother it in a combination of ketchup, mayonnaise and Tabasco but, in a trick as old as cooking itself, it you are faced with sub-standard produce that is exactly what you do… smother it in a heavy sauce. Thankfully things have changed. Some of the countries best chefs have, while not embracing the prawn cocktail, allowed its upper class
cousin the seafood cocktail to creep back onto their menus. Richard Corrigan’s Bentleys does a very fine, very dignified seafood cocktail that is light, luxurious and full of ozone tasting morsels. However, most restaurants serving prawns, or any sea food, with anything other than the lightest of sauces, a little chilli or maybe a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil would be burned to the ground by a rampaging mob of Sunday supplement reading food snobs. And that’s a shame. Because when it’s done with skill and attention there is a place for the 1970’s inspired Prawn Cocktail. A place which isn’t to do with the ironic, the kitsch or the camp but because it tastes really good and, with a few small alterations and changes, can work well with good quality, meaty, fresh king prawns. Oh…and Prawn Cocktail is never acceptable as a sandwich filling.
For the perfect Modern 1970’s Prawn Cocktail: Raw king prawns on the shell. 3 per person depending on size 2 tbsp Hellmann’s mayonnaise 2 tbsp Crème Fraîche 1 tbsp Heinz Tomato Ketchup A dash of Tabasco 1 Baby gem lettuce per person Olive oil Lemon Fresh chives To cook the prawns: Boil a pan of water, reduce to a simmer and place the prawns ‘shell on’ into the water to poach. Depending on the size this can be several minutes. While still warm peel the prawn but leave the heads on (if you are a serious prawn lover the meat gained from crushing the heads in your mouth is not to be missed). Dress the prawns in a very small drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. To make the sauce: Mix the mayonnaise, with the Crème Fraîche and the ketchup. The Crème Fraîche helps to keep the sauce lighter and less claggy. Add Tabasco to taste, a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. Marie Rose sauce is so intensely personal that there is no other option than to taste as you go along and balance
the sauce in the way you like. Mix together and put to one side. To prepare the lettuce: Shred as finely as possible, preferably into long thin strips. Just before assembly, dress in a little olive oil and add some finely chopped chives. Do not add salt as this will draw water out of the lettuce. To assemble: Place the dressed lettuce in the bottom of a glass, pile the prawns on top and spoon some of the sauce over the prawns. But don’t flood the glass with the sauce – let the prawns be the stars. Sprinkle a small amount of chopped chives on top, twist of pepper and serve immediately.
RETROSPECTIVE
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usband and wife, Amanda Blanch and Chris Edwardes have run Brighton’s Blanch House for 10 years. Amanda, moved into interior design via motherhood. Inspired by a passion for colour she transformed each room at Blanch House into a unique visual experience: "A stay in a hotel should never be dull or predictable”. Chris has managed many renowned bars, restaurants and clubs in London, including The Groucho
Club, The Pharmacy, as well as opening The Jazz Cafe and The Atlantic Bar and Grill. His cocktails skills have been described as 'legendary' and after more than 30 years in the business Chris was awarded Theme magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Having won, individually, bar design and cocktail making awards they were named, as a couple, in the 50 most influential people of the world bar industry, in 2008.
What is your all time favourite song? island for the BBC. We hadn't eaten Amanda Blanch: That is impossible, properly for ages and the whole family London Calling / just got stuck in The Clash, Ride A on a paradise White Swan / beach. T-Rex, Five Years / CE: El Disnivel in David Bowie, The Buenos Aires, instrument wow the best version of This Is steak in the world Hardcore / Pulp, in a small but I'm In love With A packed local German Film Star restaurant. All Blanch House: Award winning bar and cocktails / The Passions, plastic table Never Let Me Down / Depeche Mode, cloths and waiters running about Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien / Edith Piaf, while all the meat is cooked on an My Way / The Sex Pistols or Sinatra, open grill in the restaurant and just too, too many. butchered there as well. Not for Chris Edwardes: Tom Waits / Romeo vegetarians! Is Bleeding. Do you collect anything? Where did you have your most AB: Shoes and snowstorms. memorable meal? CE: Cocktail shakers. Do you have a 20th century hero or AB: Eating crab we had just caught idol? while filming a month on a desert
Amanda Blanch & Chris Edwardes AB: Emmeline Pankhurst. CE: Gene Kelly. What is your favourite film of all time? AB: Diva by Jean-Jacques Beineix. CE: Singing In The Rain. What was your first job? AB: Working at Selectadisc, Nottingham (one of the great independent record shops in the UK). CE: A paperboy. Who is your all time favourite actor? AB: So difficult again, Jack Nicholson, John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Cary Grant, Gabriel Byrne, Johnny Depp. CE: Audrey Hepburn. Who or what has been the biggest influence on your life? AB: Chris, my husband. CE: My wife, Amanda. What is your favourite TV show? AB: I'm loving In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne on Sky Arts right now but probably Top of the Pops and Match Of The Day. CE: Match Of The Day. Which career would you have followed if you weren’t doing what you are today? AB: I wanted to be a holiday reviewer like Judith Charmers, but I do think I would have still gone into the music business as I did. CE: Something in music or dance. Do you remember your first boy/girlfriend’s name and are you in contact? AB: Yes, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd were all
called Andy and no, not anymore. CE: No and no. What is your proudest achievement? AB: Having my two children and somehow between us raising them to be wonderful human beings. CE: Winning two outstanding achievements awards for my work in the bar industry in the same year. If you could live in any decade, which one, and why? AB: The roaring 20s: the start of liberation for women, the vote, cocktails, bright young things, total change. Followed by the 60s for very much the same reason. CE: The 20s for the same reasons as my wife and the 50s very close behind for the birth of the teenager; rock n' roll; dancing and the cars. Have you ever ‘splashed’ the cash on something big? AB: Apart from the bloody hotel, Blanch House? I suppose our wonderful 1967 split screen VW Campervan. CE: My 1958 Mark II Zephyr. Is there one thing you want to do before you depart the stage? AB: Learn to sail and drift around Europe eating fresh fish, mooring at pretty harbours and relaxing in the sun drinking good wines. CE: Travelling is top of my list.
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